The client was indicted under section 20 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. It was alleged that she had become involved in an altercation with another female at a nightclub in Central London. CCTV showed the client punching the victim and kicking her in the mouth. The victim sustained a serious injury of 2 broken front teeth.

The case was heard at Southwark Crown Court. A basis of plea was tendered which asked the Crown to consider adding a count of ABH to the indictment and offering no evidence on the section 20 if a plea was forthcoming regarding the ABH. This was done and the client pleaded guilty to ABH. A basis of plea was served in which it was stated that the client was provoked and had acted to defend herself, but had gone beyond what was necessary to do so. This was accepted in some small part by the judge who stated to the client, “You owe a debt of gratitude to your counsel for he has saved you from going to prison today.”

The judge had fully expected that he would be sending the client to prison, but further to representations made on her behalf he was able to suspend her sentence of 12 months for 2 years and ordered her to pay for the victim’s dental work and perform 250 hrs of unpaid work.